Magnetic North by Tomas Venclova
Interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature to expand our understanding of the significance of this important Lithuanian writer. Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova is a book in the European tradition of works such as Conversations with Czeslaw Milosz and Aleksander Wat's classic My Century. Taking the form of an extendedinterview with Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova, the book interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature. Venclova, who personally knew Akhmatova, Pasternak, Milosz, Brodsky, and many others, was also one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, one of the first human rights organizations in Eastern Europe. Magnetic North provides an in-depth account of ethical choices and artistic resistance to totalitarianism over a half century. It also details Venclova's artistic work, expanding our understanding of the significance of this writer, whose books are central to contemporary European culture. The publication of this book was supported by the Lithuanian Culture Institute. Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian poet, writer, scholar, and translator. He is Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Ellen Hinsey is the author of numerous works of poetry, essay, and literary translation. Her most recent book is Mastering the Past: Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe and the Rise of Illiberalism.
[An] undeniably rich and fascinating journey spanning Venclova's entire life and career, moving through a highly informative and wide swath of Lithuanian cultural and political history, and through a great deal of Soviet history as well. . . Although much of it describes large-scale historical and cultural process, questions, and events, it is also a deeply personal work. * CANADIAN SLAVONIC PAPERS *
Today Venclova is the foremost Lithuanian writer of modern times, but he is not just of national significance: he ranks among Europe's greatest living poets. Magnetic North, a book length interview with his translator, Ellen Hinsey, is therefore an important historical document, and it foregrounds a voice that is sober, mordant and deeply principled.... Hinsey, perhaps his foremost translator, makes a graceful, seamless, and well-informed interlocutor, and one obviously devoted to a cultural legacy that needs its champions. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
[Magnetic North is a] wonderful book, which is non-fiction but reads like a novel, by the greatest living Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova. It's his life as a child during World War II in Lithuania, as a student during Soviet oppression and later as a dissident and citizen of the world. I would add that he is a poet of world calibre, so I truly recommend. * KRISTINA SABALIAUSKAITE BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight *
Little could be done to ennoble the poet who already enjoys the reputation of a sage. Nonetheless, the published conversations with the American poet and translator Ellen Hinsey in the new book Magnetic North serve as a testament to the first 50 years of Venclova's life, covering the period of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and his emigration. * NEW EASTERN EUROPE *
Today Venclova is the foremost Lithuanian writer of modern times, but he is not just of national significance: he ranks among Europe's greatest living poets. Magnetic North, a book length interview with his translator, Ellen Hinsey, is therefore an important historical document, and it foregrounds a voice that is sober, mordant and deeply principled.... Hinsey, perhaps his foremost translator, makes a graceful, seamless, and well-informed interlocutor, and one obviously devoted to a cultural legacy that needs its champions. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
[Magnetic North is a] wonderful book, which is non-fiction but reads like a novel, by the greatest living Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova. It's his life as a child during World War II in Lithuania, as a student during Soviet oppression and later as a dissident and citizen of the world. I would add that he is a poet of world calibre, so I truly recommend. * KRISTINA SABALIAUSKAITE BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight *
Little could be done to ennoble the poet who already enjoys the reputation of a sage. Nonetheless, the published conversations with the American poet and translator Ellen Hinsey in the new book Magnetic North serve as a testament to the first 50 years of Venclova's life, covering the period of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and his emigration. * NEW EASTERN EUROPE *
Tomas Venclova was born in 1937 in Klaipeda, Lithuania. After graduating from Vilnius University, he travelled in the Eastern Bloc, where he met and translated Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak. Venclova took part in the Lithuanian and Soviet dissident movements and was one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. His activities led to a ban on publishing, exile and the stripping of his Soviet citizenship in 1977. Since 1985 Venclova has taught Slavic languages and literature at Yale University. He has been the recipient of numerous prizes including the Vilenica 1990 International Literary Prize, the Lithuanian National Prize in 2000, the 2002 Prize of Two Nations, which he received jointly with Czeslaw Milosz, the 2005 Jotvingiai Prize, and the New Culture of New Europe Prize, 2005. His works include volumes of poetry, essays, literary biography, conversations and works on Vilnius. His poetry has been translated into English in Winter Dialogue (Northwestern University Press, 1997) and The Junction: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2008). Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova by Ellen Hinsey was published by University of Rochester Press and Boydell & Brewer in 2017.
| SKU | Nicht verfügbar |
| ISBN 13 | 9781580469265 |
| ISBN 10 | 1580469264 |
| Titel | Magnetic North |
| Autor | Tomas Venclova |
| Serie | Rochester Studies In East And Central Europe |
| Buchzustand | Nicht verfügbar |
| Bindungsart | Paperback |
| Verlag | Boydell & Brewer Ltd |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2018-01-15 |
| Seitenanzahl | 424 |
| Hinweis auf dem Einband | Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden. |
| Hinweis | Nicht verfügbar |